1. Field
The invention is in the field of methods and apparatus for lifting heavy rolls of carpet or the like.
2. State of the Art
Rolls of carpet as supplied by the manufacturer to distributors and by distributors to dealers are very heavy (from about 500 to 2,000 lbs.) and require special equipment for lifting and moving them from place to place and for making it easy to unroll the carpet and to cut marketable lengths from the roll.
Various types of apparatus have been developed in the past for the purpose, such as are shown by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,374,964; 3,404,794; 3,750,811; and 4,496,179. These patents and others that are quite similar indicate that a need for apparatus of the type concerned has existed and that there have been many attempts to fill such need effectively.